Empty Air
by etherwanderer
Summary: Leah realises then, on a sharp inhale that hurt, exactly what is happening. The boy monster has already ripped into her, heat dribbling down her neck in two wet sticky rivers that disappear as they mix with the frozen hand that holds her throat. "Cold One," she croaks, almost no sound passing her lips. Darker Leah/Jasper retelling
1. Chapter 1

There is no time, or at least not enough of it, for her to understand what is happening. One moment she's resting, her knees bend as she crouches down to calm her panting breaths in the middle of some nondescript clearing in the woods. The area surrounding La Push has long since been searched, both by her and others looking for her lost boy. She stopped recognising her surroundings days ago, stopped seeing some childhood memory attached to each rock, each clearing she passed and now, everything looks the same. Nothing is what she wants to see and that's enough to stamp out any care or curiosity she might have had at the beauty the green hued light presents to her.

The next second, so quick that it almost felt like she'd been in two places at once, her back is slammed into the hard bark of a tree and nothing but the toes of her hiking boots are touching the earth.

Her first thought is, '_Shit, he's pulling my hair_.'

She hadn't even realised, hadn't even registered the boy monster with his hand around her throat until she heard herself think of him. When it does register all her attention is focused on the steel fingers crushing her windpipe, stopping her air and stealing her life.

Before the adrenaline can even start pumping or the very first scenes of her life can begin to play behind her eyes, he is on her. Her hands had been coming up, fingers spread ready to claw into the hands killing her but the boy monster bats them away as if they're nothing but flies, nothing but an inconvenience in the way of his path. Before it can register that her hands are broken, _her hands are broken, _he comes in closer, closer, so close that she can see nothing but his shinny penny hair.

Leah realises then, on a sharp inhale that _hurt, _exactly what is happening. The boy monster has already ripped into her, heat dribbling down her neck in two wet sticky rivers that disappear as they mix with the frozen hand that holds her throat.

"Cold One," she croaks, almost no sound passing her lips and then she drifts to sleep.

* * *

She can't have been asleep long, floating in that in-between place, when she starts to burn. It doesn't begin gently or in one single place. One second there is nothing and the next all Leah knows is a roaring inferno that touches every last inch of her. It is even inside, burning her mind and her thoughts and her eyes and her lungs. She doesn't even try to hold in her screams, letting them ripe through her abused throat.

She loses herself in the fire, unable to tell if she is alive or dead, if her eyes are open or closed, if she even still has eyes. There is nothing, _nothing, _but the fire that is _eating _her.

Eventually, she can think again. It still burns, the horrible fire, but she has changed and is more now. Not all of her thoughts burn she realises and she starts to use her mind again. It sings to her, whispering _Cold One Cold One ColdOneColdOneColdcoldcoldcoldcold _and she remembers what that is. Then she remembers what happened to her, what the monster had done.

Thoughts snowball from there, memories and realisations filling the new, bigger space in her mind. Legends, bedtime stories of glory that are now a horrible reality, her fathers steady rumbling voice filling her olive coloured bedroom as she lies cocooned in soft, worn sheets. Her strong mother framed in her bedroom doorway. Her family. Her tribe. Wolfs and Cold One's, hate and duty. She still burns but now she knows _why. _

The fire only seems to grow when it senses her pain, her horror. She does not want to be a monster, a Cold One, a demon. A Vampire. She hides from reality and the fire, burying everything that she is in her past. There are noises and smells and even movement surrounding her but nothing reaches her, so tightly has she crammed herself into her memories.

'No,' she thinks, her mouth unknowingly framing the word. 'No.'

* * *

It becomes harder to hide and ignore everything that isn't contained by her skin. Her ears, her nose and she assumes her eyes, all sharpen, bringing the outside closer than any human could think possible. Noises - voices - both swirl around and are directed towards her and Leah tries her hardest, desperate to _not hear. _She wants to be alone, to deal with this pain and lose herself. The last thing she needs are the whispering voices.

What is happening to her is worse than death and she can't stand that these _people _are watching it happen. She cringes away, her body moving with her mind despite the agony. The boy monster has taken _everything _from her, even her own death.

The fire leaves her toes first and it happens so suddenly Leah is sure that without this new, vampire mind she wouldn't have even noticed. Nothing else changes for a time - a minute, an hour, a _year, _time stopped meaning anything when the fire came. Her fingers are next. Then her arms, her legs, her nose and lips. Soon it leaves everywhere, each flame, every molecule of acid surging towards her chest. It's the end and she stops everything else and focuses all that she has now on to listening to those final frantic beats of her heart.

Never before had she stopped and taken the time to listen to it, to appreciate that rhythm that was her very life. Sam's she has memorised. She can't count how many times they had sat together, her ear pressed tight to his chest as she tried to get closer and closer and closer to him.

This isn't the way it beat before, not the steady beat of blood pumping but her death rattle. She hopes that Sam has memorised her beat, that someone out there will remember her life.

Nothing and no one make a sound as the frenzied thumping slows and softens, tapering off into nothing.

She inhales on the last beat, unable to help herself and suddenly everything hits her and her eyes pop open. There is so much, so many smells, so much detail, so many thoughts. Too much. Her mind swirls and dives off in so many directions, her eyes following a dust particle while staying trained on the streaky white ceiling above her head counting the lines left by brush strokes. She processes all the different scents that she took in on that single inhale - and Jesus, she hasn't _breathed_ since then - and tries to identify them all. She can't, but she tries. It's quiet in the room - a bedroom, she's lying on the bed - but she can hear water flowing fast not too far outside the window, tiny feet scurrying around outside and she can even hear the wind, the whoosh of it as it softly passes through trees.

There is something else too, not so much a noise for all she feels it in her ears, as a rumble in the ground. It is everywhere, as if roots are reaching up from under the very earth, swaying towards her. She is mesmerised by the feeling.

"What is that?" Someone asks and she is flying, launching off the bed and twisting in the air to land with her back towards the only window in the room.

It is huge, floor to ceiling and she catches sight of the snow covered forest beyond as she swifts in the air. An escape route, she thinks as she assesses her new position. Her legs are bent at the knees, one hand touching the coarse wooden flooring as she crouches down, much like she was when the boy monster attacked her. But this time she isn't resting.

They are all there, all the Cullens with their backs to the wall furthest from her. Her new eyes flit over them taking in each and every detail. Never before has she seen them, her father making sure she knows they are bad news, but like everyone else she has heard the gossip. The first three she passes over quickly, a blond haired man she thinks is the one that plays doctor, the woman who looks friendly that's holding his hand and a small female. Her eyes refuse to leave the next one in line and so she stares hard at him as she studies the other three in her periphery. A huge male, intimidating despite his soft expression and the blonde female standing next to him, looking at her with pity in her ochre eyes.

The last male causes her to lower further into her crouch and dig her fingers into the wooden floor. He is scarred, his skin coated in what she can easily see are bite marks. Vampire bite marks. Everything about him screams danger, more death. Under normal circumstances she imagines he would be her number one concern but now he doesn't frighten her. She is not afraid of what his skin tells her he brings, not if she can deal with _him _first.

He stands in the middle of his family, three buffering him on each side and he gazes at her as intently as she stares at him. A growl rumbles through the room, startling her and causing her fingers to splinter yet more wood until she realises it comes from her. She is threatening _him. _He shakes his head as if to dislodge something, his awful hair moving and releasing more of his smell into the room. Honey and lilac mixed with the smell of sunny days. She has to choke down a laugh at that, loving the irony of it. It fits that the sun means death to her now.

The boy monster chokes then, his face crumpling in as if he is in pain. _Good._

"Edward," the scarred one calls out. He hasn't taken his eyes of her, looking at her as if he expects her to attack. He still stares even as he calls out to someone else. That frightens her. She can't end, can't be destroyed until she hurts the monster who did this to her.

Making a decision she pushes past her instincts, pushes past her own need for self preservation and dives for him. He steps forward at the same time and she can't decide if he is just that stupid or if he is trying to protect his family, though she imagines it is the first. This boy is no saint. She means to reach out with her hand and punch him or grab him or _something, _she has never been a fighter, but instead her body seems to take over and she wraps her legs round his waist and squeezes. He reaches up and tries to grab her arms with his own but she is quicker and gets her hands around his throat. Strands of that hair, the hair that had tickled her face as he sucked her blood, slide against her fingers as they reach around and it makes her want to _crush. _Before she can, arms wrap around her torso and pull, hard enough that she knows she won't be able to hold on and so she releases him. The one holding her, the big muscled one she sees, seems about as keen on holding on to her as she is on being held and throws her off to the side. She lands on the bed she woke up in and uses it to spring, throwing herself at the monster again. The sound of their collision masks the sounds of shattering glass and the pieces of the bed falling to the ground.

"Jasper! You need to calm her down," a female shouts, loud enough that her ears ring a little with the sound.

The noise doesn't concern Leah as she again fights against him. It is useless, her every attack quickly being stopped but still she tries, her fists and feet and teeth straining to gain purchase against his skin.

"I am," someone calls back and the words distract her. What does that mean? How are they calming her? She doesn't like that, not at all. Her momentary start of surprise is enough for the boy monster to stop his seemingly effortless defence and go on the offence.

Arms suddenly latch onto her shoulders from behind, pushing her down while at the same time he lunges from in front of her and pins her swiftly to the ground. The hands on her shoulders don't let go, holding down while staying away from her head. It's the muscled one who attacked her before that holds her right, the scarred one her left. The Doctor moves quickly to hold down her legs which had been coiling to spring, hoping to dislodge the hold her killer has on her chest.

She can't move. She can't _move. _

In a panic her fingers claw against the floor, scraping and digging, and the rumble that she has heard since the burning stopped gets louder. The voices that buzz around her are nothing but white noise, distant echoes against the new pounding rhythm. Her fingers are still scratching, one part of her still desperately trying to escape. The scent of the sun is everywhere, much too close and she can't breath and all she can see is that shinny penny hair and that face that came closer and closer and killed her. She knows that she needs to get away, that he'll kill her again if she stays. Then she feels it, one of those roots stretching up from the earth that is two floors and layers of man made mess below her. It touches her everywhere all at once, dancing along her suddenly still fingers before landing on the chips of polished wood she has gouged out of the floor and catching flame.

Every hand lets go of her then and she hears them all step back. They are afraid. The little flame flickers as she thinks that, her eyes much more interested in it now. It's beautiful. Mesmerising. She feels drawn to it, like she _knows _it and moves in closer until she is on her knees perched above it. Reaching out her hand she moves to touch it but stops sharply when the seven Cullens all inhale sharply and the two who held her arms move forward as if to catch her. The little flame grows the closer they get, shifting from the dancing yellow and orange to a more intense lilac and blue.

The change again draws her full attention back to the flame and she reaches out to touch it.

"Leah, no!" It is the woman who she had thought looked sweet who says it, who calls out her name and she freezes instantly, her hand hovering inches away from the fire. "No," she repeats and Leah turns to look at her.

Leah. That's who she is. Leah Clearwater. And she had attacked these people, had even tried to kill one of them. Everything is suddenly crushing down on her, their stares, all the smells, the noise, everything. This isn't who she is, this is not who she wants to be. vampire or not. She see's the friendly flame die out, disappearing into nothing and wonders if the same has happened to her. The vampire's all shift around her, some moving away while others move closer and she does nothing. Ignoring it all she pulls her knees up to her chest and hides her face in them, her body starting to shake as she tries to cry.

She literally wants to fold in on herself when the tears don't come, her arms pulling her knees even harder to her chest. She is like a spinning top, with only the smallest part of her bottom actually touching the ground as she collapses in on herself, hunching over and trying to disappear. But still she thinks and she hears and she smells and she feels the rumble, the _hum. _Every part of her mind sings with activity.

"Please go away, please. Please," she whispers into her jeans. The voice that sounds out the words is not hers, not _Leah's. _much too rich and soulful to belong to her but then, it is her now.

With her nose this close to her jeans she can't ignore the smell of them. It isn't just the denim but what must be traces of her human sweat as well. There is something else too, something earthy and calming. It's home, the combination of La Push air and that smell that every family has.

"Please stop, please please please stop," her new voice begs. She needs it to stop.

"Leah…Leah," the sweet woman calls, moving in closer only to be stopped by the muscled one. Leah can see her expression startlingly clear despite her position and that doesn't seem to impress the woman at all, her mouth pinching and a hard look entering her eyes as she looks up at the one holding her back with a hand on her arm. "She needs help."

The words are said with such conviction, such certainty and compassion that Leah knows this woman is no threat to her. She wants to help, to make it better.

"She's dangerous," the muscled male replies, his hand tightening over the wine coloured sleeve despite the blasé tone of his voice.

The hum grows louder in her ears again and roots, four of them this time, start to reach up towards her.

"Help," Leah whispers, not sure if she is talking to the safe woman or the friendly roots. They are the only good things, the only comfort she has felt since she knelt in the wood.

"Jasper, calm her!"

A wave passes over her just as the words do, a wave of peace that takes the sting away from her panic and dulls the fear stirring in her stomach. _What is this, _she wonders as she watches the roots shrink away. It makes her sad to see them go but even that seems distant. Everything is distant like this is all happening some time in the past, her emotions dulled by time. It is then that she feels the fire starting again. It's burning her throat, a steady throb that she knows well swell and spread. Thinking about it, acknowledging it seems to have made it worse and Leah remembers the joy the acid burn seemed to gain when she realised what was happening to her. It is torture.

"She needs to hunt," the scarred one declares to everyone. He is the one effecting her, dulling her emotions somehow, the one they had called Jasper. His words register in her mind and the old Leah surges forward, blasting away the artificial wave and snapping everything back into focus.

Her head snaps up and she looks straight at the nice woman. "I won't kill anyone," she tells her, meaning to sound fierce and sure but instead sounding lost and small.

"We won't make you," the woman whispers back, her golden eyes shinning with some fluid that Leah can see won't come out. Can't come out.

"We hunt animals," the blond haired male adds. She thinks he has to be the doctor - he must be, the rest are too young looking. He moves up so he is standing beside the woman and then it is too much, they are too fucking close and there is just so many of them.

She just wants to be alone.

"She would like us to leave," the boy monster mumbles and her eyes dart straight to him. The anger rises up again, the roots reaching but Leah ignores them. She feels more in control now and while she doesn't know how he knows what she wants, he is right and the others are already staring to leave the room.

None of them move quickly, lingering in the door way or a few steps away from it shooting her pitying looks. She ignores them, watching only because she doesn't know how _not _to. The one who did this to her though, she makes sure her eyes track him every inch of the way only looking away when the door closes behind him.

Her ears and new brain track them as they travel through the house, each step by every one of them carefully monitored even as the old Leah asserts herself around the searing agony in her throat. Slowly, quietly, she uncurls herself fully and listens. Two minutes and twenty seven seconds after the door closes, she launches out of the shattered window.

She runs faster than the wind.


	2. Chapter 2

He is never sure if he misses the way things used to be, if he misses the safety and security he had felt within the family. How insulated in their little world he had been. He questions it rarely these days, only situations such as this one bringing it back to the fore of his mind.

They are at the Treaty line, waiting for there four legged counterparts for a meet. He stands off to the side, a little behind the rest. Carlisle is front and centre with Esme not a hairs breath away from his side – some things never do change. Rosalie is on his other side, the looming presence of Emmett at her elbow conspicuous in its absence. Edward is next to Esme, Bella cocooned between his side and Alice's much smaller frame. Tension radiates from them all, he does not need his power to see it. None of them want to do this.

Jasper has situated himself behind them all and he knows, from the outside, he could be nothing but a casual observer. The wolves are not stupid though, they know not to dismiss him as easily as that. Still, distance from his _family _on this is something he has to have. For once, it is not his mistakes they are here to unveil. Not his decisions that are going to effect them all. His shoulders roll at the thought, the muscle ripple travelling outwards and down his back, a left over human reaction. A recoil.

"Jasper," Edward snaps, head spinning round to glare at him, rage and shame flowing on the currents. Before Jasper can think of a suitable reaction a delicate hand touches Edwards arm, drawing his attention to the girl at his side.

It annoys him that the shame disappates. If anything, if there was any right in this mess, it should have rocketed up.

"They're coming," Alice states, eyes forward, shoulders tight.

She is nervous and even now Jaspers first instinct is to comfort her, to ease the tension and the fear, but he doesn't. He would have in any other situation but he picked his side nearly two years ago and so had Alice. Her side was most probably picked _long _before then. To draw his attention away from his friend – his one time lover – Jasper searches the landscape in front of him. They had picked the point on the line where the river has trickled down to a stream so thin a human could step over it with no hardship. Trees surround them, thick trunks that could hide the girth of even one of the Quileute, and stretch out into the distance. Moss and undergrowth litter the ground, the damp of the earth echoed in the air. There is nothing to mark the spot as anything special, anything other, but they all know the route of the Treaty line. To them it is impassable. It is mere seconds after Alice has spoken that he spies the first shape in the distance, moving slowly towards them from directly ahead. Straining his eyes, Jasper quickly picks out the others. Seven in total. They had all come.

Every one – bar Bella – on his side of the line becomes more anxious at that, Carlisle losing any hope that had been echoing behind his doubt. Bella, blissfully unaware, shakes out her hair and draws away from Edward slightly. She's cold but not one bit afraid and for one instant, one tiny second, Jasper feels nothing but pity for her. She has no concept of the reality of what is currently barrelling towards them, and from the little that she can grasp from the censored story she is allowed, she cannot connect with the instinctual fear that she _needs _to be feeling. No one speaks until the wolves are close enough that Bella can hear, if not see, their approach.

Edward leans down, bending in half to bring his lips close to her ear, "Remember what I told you. We have to stay calm," he whispers, "and you have to stay close to either Alice or me." Bella nods her agreement without turning her head.

Esme turns her head to look at Jasper, shooting him a small smile and projected familiar love at him. She wants him to feel included, wants him to step up to her side. He gives her a small, one sided smile in response but shakes his head. He will not show support for this. She sighs, a hand lifting up and for a moment Jasper thinks she is actually going to reach out to him before she lets it drop and returns her gaze to the wolves now not a football field away from them.

Apart from the sounds they make against the forest as the move, the wolves approach in silence. They are so controlled, their heart beats and breathing synchronised along side their movements. It is such an awe inspiring sight to the solider in him, nature creating these perfect fighting beasts to protect herself. Every time he sees one of them, in either form, Jasper is always struck by his opinion of them. He knows it could not be any more different from that of the others, Carlisle excluded, though even then it is not the same. Carlisle is intrigued by them while what Jasper feels is as close to awe as he will allow himself to get.

"Hello," Carlisle calls out, startling Jasper from his thoughts. The pack have lined themselves up before them, all of them snapping to stare at Carlisle as he speaks. They had been surveying the Cullen side of the line, several sporting furrows on their brows. Clearly the missing Emmett has put them on edge. "Thank you for coming, we know you are very busy."

One of the wolves, one he has never met in human skin before, snorts at that. "Right, sure you do," he drawls, a tightly bound rage pooling beneath his feat.

Carlisle manages to ignore the comment, his doctors' smile staying firmly in place as he waits for the wolf he is looking at to speak. He is the biggest of them all and also the one Jasper has seen the most. The Alpha, Jacob Black. He is at least four inches taller than the other wolves, making him about six inches taller than Carlisle and two taller than Jasper himself. It isn't his height or even his inhuman width that impresses and intimidates so effectively, though the others might think it, it's his ability to draw and command the attention of everyone around him. Wolf or otherwise. Jasper can see it though his gift, the emotions of everyone that surround Jacob respond to him instantly, almost as if in echo and not once in the handful of times that he has encountered the boy have his emotions contained anything that could be considered positive. He is wired tighter than even Jasper, a burning mass of duty and obligation, rage, sadness and soul deep, burning loss.

"You ring," Jacob begins, clenching his fist where they rest against his bare chest, "and we came. So? Has the timing changed?"

The resentment feels like his own.

Looking offended at the mere hint of a suggestion that she might not be accurate Alice scoffs, drawing everyone's attention. "No, two nights from now. Just as I said," she adds, flicking her gaze over each of the wolves in turn. They are amused, tickled even by it. By Alice in general.

"We have something we need to inform you of, something that we should have brought to your attention some time ago. It was not withheld with any malice," Carlisle assures them, tone earnest as he takes a step forward. "At the time we felt you were all too new, to overwhelmed to deal with anything else and.."

"That isn't and wasn't your choice to make," the Alpha snaps, fists unclenching and moving to hang by his sides. At this obvious anger the pack becomes restless, their previous stillness dissolving and anticipation seeping towards Jasper. Carlisle is not going about this the right way, not if he wants to avoid conflict.

Tilting his head in agreement Carlisle carries on, hopefully not oblivious to the fact he has just thinned the line he has to tread. "Last winter, a few days after Bella moved to Forks, Edward bit and turned a human."

The torrent of sheer fire that surges out at him makes Jasper stagger backwards, his steps clumsy as his hands fly up to crush against his pulsing temples. It is like a fire has been lit inside his skull, the emotions of the wolves so strong, so _concentrated, _that his years of carefully crafted control crumble against them. He wants to rage against the world, to make everyone shake before his anguish. He wants to bite and tear and destroy. He wants to kill.

As soon as it comes, the emotions are gone. Replaced by a steely calm that really is anything but. This though, this Jasper can think around. He lowers his arms back to his sides, all of his calm posture lost, and looks to see what he has missed. None of the family have moved, though Bella has crushed herself closer to Edwards side. The wolves however have returned to statues, their frames looking as if they are locked in the stiff positions they hold themselves in. Arms at their sides, fists completely unclenched, each one tilted slightly towards the middle where Jacob stands with a completely blank expression on his face.

"We're telling you this now because we respect," Carlisle starts, only to be cut off and interrupted again.

"You're telling us now," Jacob snarls, emotion flitting across his features, "because you know we can't fucking kill you. Not with the _army _you've brought to our people. After that though...well all bets are off," he finishes with a smirk.

"You wouldn't dare," Edward snarls, pushing Bella behind him and beginning to lower himself into a crouch.

"Edward! Stop," Carlisle shouts, taking his eyes for Jacob for the first time since he began speaking. He is ashamed, Jasper knows he has been ashamed of this almost from the beginning. Disappointment and sorrow swirl around him and Jasper can only image what Edward can hear in his thoughts. Whatever it is, it keeps him quiet. Turning to face the wolves again Carlisle steps even further forward, putting himself within attacking distance of three of them. "It doesn't need to come to that. Mistakes, a terrible mistake has been made but it does not need to lead to death," he pleads, arm outstretched and palms facing out.

"More death," one of the shifters snarls, this one second to the left of Jacob. Embry, Jasper knows, having met him once before. He is tired, feeling a weariness that the others in his pack to not.

No one has anything to say to that. Pure truth is hard to refute and so they fall into silence.

It had been a stroke of genius, Jasper thinks, hoping Edward is listening. A stroke of pure genius to tell the wolves now. They are all locked in this uneasy alliance, held together by the most basic need. Survival. Without each other, they will all die. The shifters know this, Edward and Alice had made sure of that when they had told them of the incoming newborns, and they have more to lose than the Cullens. They protect something other than themselves. It is yet another way in which they have abused Leah, corrupting her for their own uses.

It burns him, this shame he feels at being associated with this. With the Cullens. Despite their differences, and they have always been clear and presented right before his eyes, they were his family. Jasper doesn't know if he can call them that now. Rosalie and Emmett he knows feel the same way he does, not as strongly, not with the fierce repulsion that Jasper can't seem to wriggle free of, but even they seem willing to go along with whatever route is laid out before them. Whatever is in the best interests of the family.

He wonders if things were ever any different to this or if he just had closed eyes.

Something changes in the silence, the one human heart beat speeding up, racing fast and drawing everyone's attention. Bella is looking at one of the wolves, one Jasper has met before. The Beta. He is always at any meetings they have, always standing to the right of Jacob Black. She is worried, not afraid. Concerned and curious. While the rest of his family and most of the wolves stare at Bella and attempt to work out the reason for her panic, Jasper studies the Beta. He stands just like the rest but his face, his expression is different. He doesn't look angry, though Jasper knows he is experiencing exactly the same rage as his fellows, but thoughtful. He's thinking intently about something, something that awakens some base hurt inside him, something open ended. As Jasper watches, he shots a look at another wolf, the youngest of them, and determination takes over both his insides and his face.

"Who?" He asks, drawing everyone's attention. When Jacob catches his gaze, the Beta shakes his head, squaring his shoulders and turning to face them. After a few seconds, he repeats the question.

Jasper studies each of his family. None of them will say it, even now they shrink away from the responsibility, from the consequences of what they have allowed. He isn't surprised. It takes him ten steps to reach his family and two more to pass them, placing himself in no mans land. In the inbetween.

Even the wind seems to calm in the air as he speaks, nature itself wanting this truth to be heard. Drawing on that steely control he tells them, "Leah Clearwater."

* * *

By now Leah knows each and every smell this landscape has to offer her new senses. It had been a game she played, back when she had first ran, to distract her mind from its own vastness and the never ending thirst. She would run for miles, one big circle, scenting everything possible as she went. Her eyes were to clever now, so she would shut them, opening them only in quick blasts to gauge her trajectory.

Guess the tree. Guess what kind of beast the tiny feet that scurried out of her path belonged to. It only took her minutes to catalogue and confirm each and every one.

So she knows this place as well as anything can and this approaching smell is new. Different, a complete unknown to her. This rarely happens these days, time having exposed her to all that nature or man have given this place. Leah doesn't feel threatened despite the fact that whatever is behind the smell is directing itself straight for her. She can hold her own, more than that even.

Not two weeks after she had woken to this new hell – she will not call it a life – another vampire had found her. She doesn't know if he was looking for her or it was just an unhappy accident. Either way, he had caught her trail and moved himself down wind of her. Leah had no idea he was even in the country and then suddenly he was standing fifty yards in front of her. Left over human parts of her brain had screamed _Cullen _but her new vampire self knew better, eyes and nose quickly ascertaining that this man was a complete unknown.

The next part is hazy for her and Leah appreciates it, one of the last moments her mind cannot recall with prefect clarity. She does remember him speaking, or attempting to, but she had been on him before he could finish a word. In her imagination it goes something like her vain attack of _him_, all instinct and no skill. The roots calling to her, that memory is vivid. They are always there, humming in the back of her mind, echoing not just in her ears like she had first thought, but through every inch of her. Not since the incident in the house had she called to them, pulled them to her, and this time it isn't one or two or ten that answer her, its _thousands_. They dance up at her, igniting the grass at their feet despite the rain water which has long since soaked it. The vampire lets go of her, confusion and panic curling his features and then he is on fire too. First it's his clothes, every inch catching at the exact same moment, and then the roots positively dance, swaying and just exuding sheer joy at her. Leah had bitten him. Two rows to teeth marks just where his shirt collar met his neck.

It had been like an explosion, sheer energy blowing her back as he burned. She had ran until she hit ocean.

Not the most seamless of introductions to her new species but well, it taught her confidence. Reminded her that she was still Leah Clearwater despite the unwelcome changes. That's why she won't run from this new scent. Whatever it is, it knows she is here and for some reason, is seeking her out. Looking around Leah decides just to stay put, this place being as good a place as any to meet this oddity. At the top of the highest hill in the valley, a football field sized level field of rocks and brush. The sun just started to rise so the shadows will soon to be a thing of the past. Open, no trees, no place to hide. No water, though she isn't even sure if that could stop her flames. She stands with the vampire stillness that she hates and waits.

While the scent is still out of her sight line, just over the ridge directly ahead, it because much more distinct. Two, not one, distinct scents. They are similar but she is positive even without the two pounding heartbeats. It's pure nature, their smell. As she listens her mind spins, old stories and her new supernatural appreciation pulling in her human brain to lead to horrifying conclusions. Twiddling the fingers of her left hand she calls the roots up closer to her, not breaching the surface yet but it's a comfort. As much as she hates what she is – and she does _hate _- Leah does not want to die.

About a mile before they will hit her, the incoming smells stop and there is this _ripple _in the air. She can't describe it, only thinking that it is as if a rock has been thrown into the tide pools of the air surrounding her. When they start moving again it is different. More noise against the grass and reeds that she knows line the approach, and while the hearts beat to the same rhythm one seem smaller some how. Not as loud, less blood pulsing.

Leah is not at all surprised when she sees a wolf and a man crest the hill. Though, wolf is not quite the word. He is massive, bigger than a bear though not as tall. Leah guesses he would to eye level with her and her height is nothing to scoff at. Brown furr covers absolute muscle and though the wolf makes no threatening moves a shiver still makes it way down her spin, stories of teeth stronger than diamonds dancing through her mind. Even as everything about the pair in front of her screams peace, instinct will not allow her to take her eyes from the wolf and so she catalogues the man from the corner of her eye. Tall, buff but lean, deadly muscle coating him as well. He is much taller than her, much more _everything_. The legends had never spared much time on what effect becoming a wolf would have on the human appearance of the tribe but Leah can tell it is this that has changed the man. His eyes are soft and brown, tired looking, but with the same look she imagines could be found in hers if there were anyone to look. He isn't really a man, he's a boy.

They don't stop until they are barely an arms width away from her coming to rest at exactly the same moment. It is so surreal she almost expects the wolf to sit back on its haunches and present her with a paw. She hasn't moved a muscle since they can into view, even her fingers having stilled.

"Leah," the man greets inclining his head towards her, a strange look gracing his features. She can't quite work out what it is. "It's good to see you."

_Is it?_ Somehow she doubts that.

They both study her, two sets of brown eyes – and really, isn't that a mind fuck? They look almost the same, those eyes – as if they are waiting for a reply. She can't think of one, so she waits.

Flicking a glance at his sidekick the man continues, voice soothing. "We just found out about...well, about this," he finishes, shaking his arm out towards her in explanation. About her almost-death then. "The Cullens," the name is a snarl and for the first time she sees anger, "didn't tell us until last night and we came as soon as they did." The wolf whines in agreement. "Well not quite right away. We left without finding out where you were, see, and well we were all just a bit...surprised," he nods, smiling as if he's pleased to have found the right word.

"Who is we? Us?" Leah asks, her voice no less clear for the fact she hasn't used it in months.

Unsure whether it's the question or her new voice that have caused the man's jaw to drop open Leah doesn't dare say anything else, just waiting until he finally closes his mouth. The voice is shocking, she knows that first hand. She sounds like she should be singing in one of those underground bars, sultry soulful songs slipping past her lips while someone pours bootlegged booze at the bar.

"I'm...I'm sorry, but what?" he stutters back at her. "You know who we are right? She knows," he adds to his wolf friend, sounding completely unconvinced.

"No," she states, the word sharp, "I know _what _you are. Not who."

He chokes and clears his throat, looking anywhere but at her. The wolf rumbles.

It's awkward, _she _is awkward, but there is nothing else for it. She doesn't understand really why it happened, though she has an idea. Her memory from her human life is...sketchy at best. Some bits of it are crystal clear, while others seems to have dissolved entirely and she can't find a pattern to it. There doesn't seem to be any reason to it – at the start Leah had thought she only remembered things to do with the supernatural but no, there are other memories in there. Her fathers low rumble is one of the things she remembers best, his voice spinning out legend to her as she lay on worn sheets. The first time she held Seth. The taste of strawberries. Pain. The feeling of sunlight on her skin, warmth.

She couldn't tell you the name of her mother or the colour of her hair. The feel of her hand rubbing her back and the way she had taught her to braid her hair are vivid. La Push is bright in her mind but that has more to do with the legends she recited to herself rather than any concrete memories of her own.

Drawing back her attention, the man again clears his throat before answering in a much rougher voice, "I'm Embry. This is Jared," he indicates with a nod.

She searches all her memories, the work of an instant, but the names ring no bells. "Alright." Leah waits a beat, hoping he will understand from her tone that she is still just as clueless. "So, we is you two?"

"No, we is more than just us," he answers. The wolf whines again and Leah lets her full attention focus on him. Restless paws – paws the size of her face! - dig into the ground beneath them. His eyes are boring into her and they look tortured, like her lack of remembrance is physically hurting him. It's a strange reaction from someone she does not even _know. _Although, she might she supposes. Maybe human Leah and this Jared wolf boy were best friends. Maybe the used to date. Maybe she used to hump him at basketball. "There are seven of us, me and Jared you know. Quil, Paul, Jacob, Sam and Seth," he finishes. His speech had slowed the further into the list he had gotten and now she knows why.

Leah cannot stop the gasp when she hears his name. Seth. Jesus, not Seth. He is a wolf. Her little brother, her _baby_ brother is something that exists only to kill her. No. And Sam, she knows that name too. It doesn't have the same visceral connection to her that Seth does but still, she remembers Sam. She thinks she loved him but the feelings so abstract now, so distant and foreign that it's hard to feel any more more about him than the other faceless names. But, Seth, that destroys her. His smile flashes behind her eyes and she is suddenly lost in the memory of his laugh, his glowing eyes and laughing mouth staring at her over his shoulder as he runs away from her. She's chasing him, they are inside, some place she can't name. He's so gangly and bright and just _vivid._ A door closes almost hitting her nose and she stops, panting and listening to the laughter echoing through the wood. Her hair is wet and she's cold but happy, breathless more with laughter than the chase. "Why are you here? _Why did you come?" _She had been fine.

"We want you to come home. We need you to come home."

Her head is shaking no and her feet are backing away before this Embry even finishes his sentence. There is not a chance. The roots dance up to her fingers, responding as ever to her panic, but she pushes them down. Not this time. This time, she will just run. Two full strides and she hears the sound of clothes pulling apart and the ground shakes as she assumes four paws hit it. They plan on chasing her then. This is her home, she knows this place like the back of her hand. It isn't just the smells she has memorised. They don't stand a chance.

Still they are faster than Leah would have guessed, Jared more so than Embry. Pushing down into the earth harder Leah accelerates, pushing herself to her fastest. She's going downhill and she knows exactly where to push off, exactly the spot there she will have enough leverage to sail down the rest of the mountain in the air. By the time she hits the bottom she knows it's useless, they are going to catch her.

Jared hits her from the left, clipping her side hard enough to throw her to the ground. It's a carefully planned out move, one meant to stop her not hurt her. Not giving up that easily, Leah twists, hands pushing into the damp soil and springing off. Her feet touch the ground and before her body can right itself, Embry comes at her from ahead. He pushes her down, covering her whole body with his wolf bulk and pinning her to the ground. His mouth is closed but her hair flies back from her face with the force of his huffing breaths.

"Get off me," she screams, arm rising up and pushing against the mass of fur. "Let me go!" There is that ripple in the air again and suddenly it isn't a wolf above her but a man, a very naked man. "I swear if you don't get the fuck off of me now I will rip you to pieces," Leah snarls, anger suddenly bubbling.

"We need you're help," Embry states, surprising – and insultingly – calm. "We need you."

That, that she had not been expecting. "Put some clothes on and I'll listen."

The picture of stubborn determination Leah folds her arms across her chest and waits. She doesn't close her eyes – sadly, she has already seen more than enough – and she doesn't move from where Embry had pinned her to the ground. Her ears tell her well enough what is going on. Strapped to Jared's leg are a pair of dark trousers, shorts maybe, she couldn't tell with them folded around the muscle, and Embry makes quick work of untying them and pulling them on. She sees it all, her vampire vision tracking the movement. As soon as the zip is fully up, Leah springs up and turns to face the man and wolf again, eyebrow raised.

"Was that really necessary?" he snarks, raising an eyebrow of his own. Before Leah can retort, Jared snarls. It's directed at Embry, not her, and it's clear it isn't a sound of agreement. "Yeah, yeah. Alright," he puffs, "we need you to come back to La Push. The Cullens have got themselves all tangled up in some vampire bullshit and an army are on their way to kill them all."

"And that's a bad thing?" Not in her book. She would happily see them all burn. Or, the human parts of her brain would. The vampire parts are not quite to easy to convince.

Her question seems to startle a laugh out of him. It reminds her of the comparison she had made to begin with between them, he looks like a boy again. "Not in my book. Not in _anyones _book really. Sadly, we can't kill them until we kill these vamps. If we don't work together we'll all die, blah blah. Teamwork, innit?"

"Seth?" Leah asks. Seth might die. That's what she means but she won't even let those words touch her lips. Never.

"Yeah," he nods, "Seth. All of us actually, thanks for the concern."

"I've got questions," she tells him, ignoring the jib.

"And we've got answer, some at least. But, we don't have time. We need to leave, like ten minutes ago. We're in even worse shape just now." Because they came to find her. He doesn't say it but it is obvious.

Not knowing what to say to that Leah gives a slight jerk of her head and tries not to feel anything at the two relieved sighs that come in response. Another ripple, that same sound of clothes being ruined, and she's faced with two wolves now. Without waiting for them to look at her, she starts running.

It's a few hours before Leah has to give up and let one of them take the lead. Her vampire brain can tell her north and the other compass points but she doesn't know the way to where they are taking her. She'd made a point of staying in either Canada or Alaska and while at the time she hadn't been thinking of avoiding anything other than the Cullens, it still leaves her at a disadvantage. Strangely enough though, she trusts these two people she has only just met – met again?- and so she tries to think of anything other than what will be waiting for her at the end. The experience is interesting enough to hold her attention. She doubts many vampires run with werewolves.

There is something beautiful about them, they are such a display of raw power that Leah can't help but admire them. They are so different, so so different to what she had imagined when remembering the legends of her people. Strange that she doesn't find it unsettled to be so wrong about something that has given her so much comfort since her death. With little else to occupy herself but her own struggle against her nature, memories had become more valuable the gold. Everyone had been studied, turned this way and that in the light of her new analytical brain.

Memories are dangerous to her now, though. With what she is about to put herself into. The _people _she is bound to see again. Drawing herself away from her insides, Leah studies the two running with her. Embry is out in front of her, not far away, while Jared is at her side. He keeps shooting looks at her every few minutes, as if he needs his eyes on her to be sure she hasn't slipped away. Apparently she is infinitely interesting to him. Even the landscape that they are travelling through isn't a safe distraction for Leah. The further from the places she knows they go, the more the surroundings change. She doesn't know these trees or the light or the smells. Without the familiar comfort of her roots, there is no chance she could manage to pull of this cool, calm and collected attitude she has to play.

It's the smell that she notices first. A warning sign. A fucking banged drum right behind her eyes. She stops dead in her tracks. Humans. They've brought her to humans. They've been running for just over nine hours by this point, they could be anywhere but where they are, a city is near. It's more concentrated than Leah has ever exposed herself to before. Single hikers to begin with and then small towns, isolated places. There's never been a mistake, a slip. Human blood draws her but it isn't irresistible, she can control herself. They don't know that though and still, here they are. Their paws have stopped along with her feet and both are watching her with a different gleam in their eyes. It's a test.

Squaring her shoulders Leah takes a step forward and watches as they tense, ready to pounce on her. Fuck them. _Fuck them. _She makes sure to bash into both of them as she moves past them, calmly walking off in the direction they had been going. Not following the blood.

It's a wake up call. They don't, can't, won't, trust her. She's the enemy. They need her now but they won't always. Happy homecoming this is not. Now is no time to start believing in happily ever after.

Leah doesn't allow herself to think again until they reach the interstate. Jared has lead them here and from what she can tell they are mid way between Olympia and Portland. She's never been one for judging distance though. How they plan to cross is a mystery to her and one she isn't to keen to solve, they can stay on this side of the line for all she cares. The route would be obvious from here, even if she couldn't already faintly smell the resident vampires. Trails, she figures. Another warning sign. Without pausing or slowing at all Leah darts across the highway, dodging the one car that impedes her path. Her blur is something humans could easily overlook, two giant wolves not so much. They have to stop and she doesn't and it's freeing to be alone again, even if it is only for the time it takes them to catch her up.

It takes another twenty minutes for them to reach the National Forest. The sighs had told her where she was but even without them she knew. This place feels like home to her. It's unsettling. It smells so much like her here and the animal in her loves that, she almost wants to roll around, ingrain herself into the dirt. The smell isn't really _her _though, it's Cullen. Venom seems to link them through scent, that she's worked out for herself, but it isn't until she is here in their place that she fully grasps it. Her nose leads the rest of her in an almost pathetic need. Coven. Safety. Only, not. They will know she is here, if not now then soon.

"I have to hunt," she declares, coming to a halt. "I'll do it alone." Thankfully, there is no argument.

Leaving her tail sitting on their haunches Leah heads off at full speed towards the mountains, further into the forest. To begin with she follows nothing but the path the forest sets out for her. It doesn't take long for her to scent a deer though, one alone. It isn't moving. Switching off the human parts of her brain, she hunts. After she has finished and her meal is a distance behind her Leah allows herself a giggle. There's something dirty about this, hunting in their territory before they even know she is here. It's an invasion and she couldn't be happier about it.

There are four wolves waiting for her when she gets back. Jared and Embry are sitting almost exactly where she left them. One of the new wolves, a massive mahogany coloured beast is sitting just in front of them. He's frightening, more so than the others, and from the way he sits Leah can tell he knows it. Powers rolls off him in waves and she instinctively calls the roots, pulling them with her fingertips to just below the ground. Not even an inch below.

As she is doing this her eyes take in the second new wolf. He's smaller, leaner and more compact than any of the others. A mix of colours, bits and pieces of each of the others reflected in his fur. He's the only one standing and as she comes in to view the wolf stills completely. They lock eyes and something in Leah uncurls. She knows this wolf-person. The eyes. Even as her fingers wiggle she lets out a deep belly laugh as his tail wags, happy dog style. Her laugh seems to give him confidence and, black eyes glowing, he slowly pads towards her. Not exactly knowing why, Leah crouches down. It puts her head just below his when he stops in front of her and their eyes lock as she reaches a hand up to touch his fur. Soft.

Seth. This is Seth.

Leah laughs again, slightly hysterically maybe and Seth – this just _has _to be Seth – barks out a laugh in reply. God. "Seth," she breathes. At her knowledgement he pushes her over, no mean feat considering what she is, and suddenly he is above her. His eyes are everywhere all at once and then his cold, wet nose is pushing into her neck. It's disgusting but not at the same time. It's Seth.

Maybe he can sense her discomfort though because in the next second he backs off, tail wagging again and she watches it as she gets to her feet. Giving a little yip his brown-grey flank rubs against the denim covering her legs once and then he is moving over towards the other three wolves. In an instant all the joy is gone. She had forgotten again. This isn't her home any more. These aren't her people.

She's alone.


	3. Chapter 3

Jasper wouldn't say he is hiding but then, he couldn't think of another word to describe his current actions either. It's not the others he is hiding from but rather their emotions. The journey back to the house had been had enough for him but now that they are all back – minus Edward – and couped up in the house, he feels like he is drowning. Hearing Rosalie recount the meeting to Emmett had only increased the tension he was feeling from the others. Carlisle's guilt is suffocating, even more so for the unusualness of feeling such a helpless emotion come from someone who was usually so in control. There is so much anger as well, gut churning, red hot burning anger. Everyone feels it. A good amount of it is even projected in his direction. He isn't sorry. So, yes, maybe he is hiding. In his room, like a spoiled child sent to bed without dinner. Some of them think he should be punished so the analogy is fitting.

With his open windows facing out towards the forest, Jasper hears him coming before the others. The sound of one of the shifters travelling doesn't quite have the same mystique as the whisper of a travelling vampire but it is still unmistakable to those that know it. One wolf, coming straight towards the house. Without thought, Jaspers mouth rises in a smirk. It's a ballsy move. The wolf has come straight through their territory.

"Carlisle," Esme calls out from her position in the kitchen, Alice and what he can only guess is a mountain of wedding magazines stacked up beside her. "Someone's coming," she adds as Carlisle moves, leaving his study and heading towards the front door.

The rest of the family head there as well, Rosalie and Emmett coming from their room. Jasper waits until they reach the bottom of the stairs before following, listening to the whispered conversation going on below as he walks to meet them at human pace.

"Who?" Carlisle asks, his anxiety ratcheting up.

"I'm blind," Alice answers and Jasper can see just the way her brow will be furrowed in his minds eye.

"A wolf then," Emmett suggests, "though I can't see just one of them coming here by themselves."

Esme hums and the rest quiet. They will all be straining to hear as many sounds as possible. "A wolf, yes. Definitely only one." She's always had the best ears in the family.

"I saw him," Jasper adds as his feet leave the bottom step. Everyone turns to stare at him, eyes open and curious. "It's the angry one," and isn't that just the most useless description.

It must tell Carlisle something if his single nod is anything to go by. Jasper moves closer as Carlisle opens the door, the whole family following him out and on to the walk way to their home. They can all smell and hear the wolf now, though he is currently obscured by the surrounding trees changing. The rustle of fabric gives it away. When he comes out from behind the trees, pushing his way through the low hanging branches and ignoring the way they smack against his skin, there is not one hint of hesitance. There's nothing but determination heading towards them, determination with a smirk on it's face.

"Where is she?" The wolf demands, voice pitched low. It's very clever, not waiting for Carlisle to speak first. It riles them all up, all those that share Cullen venom, the complete lack of respect this _child_ is showing their leader. And they can do nothing about it, nothing but clench fists and tighten their teeth.

"You are?" Carlisle asks, trying to keep his annoyance out of his tone.

Huffing out a chuckle the wolf takes a few more steps closer to them, "You didn't answer my question, leech. Where. Is. She? I won't ask again."

"Why you little fucking rat! Who do you think you are? Where..."

"Rose," Emmett calls, a hand on the arm that had been waving at the wolf, and at the same time pulls her back to his side.

"We don't know," Carlisle finally answers, "not exactly."

"But you have an idea?"

That was news to Jasper. As far as he was aware – as far as he had been _told_ – they had no idea where she was. Not a clue were the words used in fact.

"British Columbia. The nearest town is Mackenzie," Alice states, "but she's miles from there. In the mountains."

White noise takes over Jaspers brain. They knew.

A warm, dirty chuckle brings him back to the present. The wolf is staring right at him and that eyebrow is up again. "Seems you're the only one surprised by that information, man."

"Not the only one," Emmett mutters.

"She doesn't want to be with us," Esme tells him, drawing that burning gaze away from Jasper. "We make sure she is safe."

"Oh well, fuck me then, that makes it _all _okay. Tell me you're not that stupid? Don't you play mom in this road show. Fuck me. You, blondie," he's looking back at Jasper, "we'll be waiting at the line tonight for that training." With that final bombshell of a comment he explodes, not even bothering to strip off the cut off shorts he'd been wearing.

They all stand stock still until they can no longer see or hear the wolf, each of them still clinging to that poise that they so desperately love. Everything dirty should be kept behind closed doors. As soon as the wolf without a name is out of range they surge. Carlisle at Esme, comforting her after that tearing down. Rose goes to them too, hands nervous. Alice and Emmett come towards him.

"I didn't know, man, I swear it. I would have told you."

"Jasper," Alice starts, before being drowned out by Emmett's louder words.

"Get away from me, Alice. Seriously," he adds, locking eyes with her so she understands how much he means this, "don't open you're mouth."

Him speaking this way to Alice draws everyone's attention, it's not unheard of but it is certainly rare. That just makes it all the more powerful. He can't stand that she has lied to him about this, that almost all of the family have lied to him. Not once, not even twice, countless times.

When Leah had ran, Jasper had been one of the first to react. He knew newborns and he knew better than to let his guard down. Neither Edward or Alice were worried and so he had thought – _trusted – _that she hadn't been thinking or planning anything other than a mope. When he had heard her hit the ground outside he had bolted, not bothering to track his way up the stairs like most of the family but heading straight out through the garage. She didn't have more than a five second head start but it had been enough. As a newborn Leah was one of the fastest Jasper had ever seen, faster than him. Faster than Edward. Less than a minute after he had taken off and Jasper knew they would never catch her, not unless she let them.

Knowing newborns as he does, he'd wanted to find her. Not chase her, that was futile, but sit down and work out a way to find her. With Edward and Alice that should have been easy. Alone, confused, totally new to this life, Jasper could think of no worse torture to inflict on a person. The first few months of this life are the worst. It's death but without the luxury of rest, death but with the agony of thought. Edward had told them that Leah knew what she was becoming while she changed, that her thoughts were filled with legends that were now her history. So she would know what she was, an advantage to be sure but, she would also hate herself. She'd been raised to see them as demons, much like Carlisle.

That connection, that link between Leah and Carlisle makes it even harder for him to stomach. Carlisle had known where she was, all those times Jasper had asked and heard nothing back blankness from Alice and Edward. Carlisle had never said a word.

Edward had told him that Leah had no plan in her mind. It was a split second decision. He heard nothing about a destination, no hint. Alice had told him that it was too soon, she didn't know Leah, there was no connection there and so she couldn't see her future. That Jasper had not even questioned. Questioning Alice was never something he had done. He had trusted her absolutely.

For months afterwards Jasper had made plans in his head. Deciding to travel to x and quizzing Alice on what he would find there. If he would find Leah. The answer had always been the same. Many hours had been spent with the other two with powers, theorizing on just how Leah's power would develop, how she would learn to control it. If she would learn to control it. Jasper couldn't forget that glowing smile on her face as she had reached out towards the flame, the pure joy she had felt as she looked into the white hot center of the one thing that could kill them. Once, back during the wars, Jasper had seen a newborn nearly driven mad by their power. From the moment the vampire had awoken he had been immobile, doing nothing put pushing his powerful hands against his ears. Marie had had him destroyed before he managed to crush his own skull. They hadn't even know what his power had been, Marie had suspected something to do with sound.

There are so many risks with a newborn, so much responsibility. Despite his history Jasper knows that, knows that giving someone this life ties you to them. It's instinct but more than that, it's _right. _Without all the other factors they should never have given up, no one with Cullen venom should have stopped looking for Leah until she was safely back with them. Edward shouldn't have been able to _not_ look. Jasper just couldn't understand it.

"She has always been safe," Carlisle tells him, placing a hand on Alice's shoulder. "We have kept watch."

He loves these people so he won't reply as he wants to, instead he just walks away and doesn't leave his room until it is time to meet the wolves.

The plan had been for them all to go together but Jasper can't quite stomach being around any of them. It hurts, this distance that is growing better them. Emmett isn't dissuaded by his surely attitude and leaves the house two beats behind Jasper. They have enough time that it's a slow run to the ridge and while Emmett makes it clear that he wants to talk, Jasper shrugs it off and uses the time to shake off his burning resentment and anger. He's been stewing for hours by this point, fermenting in it and letting the way he feels leak out into the house but now he needs to focus. This is what he is good at, this is what he is, a solider. Plus, it could be fun. It's rare he gets to see anything truly different these days.

The wolves are there and waiting when they arrive and they feel no surprise at their small number. Jasper cannot say the same. There are only four wolves in front of him – the Alpha, the Beta, the wolf who had come to the house and another that Jasper does not know by name – when he had expected the whole pack. None of them are human and Jasper takes that for what it is. They don't want conversation.

Diving right in he places himself a step in front of Emmett, "Newborns are the strongest of our kind. They are made with only one purpose, to kill. The vampires that have passed through here in the past year - as well as us - are nothing in comparison." The emotions tell them they are listening, interested even. "Their youth is their greatest advantage and their greatest weakness. Remainders of their own human blood fuel them, making them stronger than even the strongest of us." Emmett grumbles at his side and Jasper can't help but smirk and shoot him a look. Emmett hates being out done. One of the wolves, the one that had come to the house, is amused and has a hefty dose of disbelief. "We'll show you," Jasper declares, eyes on the brown wolf.

"Oh yeah," Emmett calls, clapping his hands together.

There is enough distance between them and the wolves that Jasper stays still as Emmett backs off, getting enough distance so they can break into a run.

"Emmett's the strongest grown vampire I've ever encountered," Jasper states and then he cocks a finger. Come and get it.

Emmett comes barrelling straight towards him, head on and at full speed. It's the way a newborn would behave and Jasper has to trample down decades of ingrained training to not react. Instead, he runs head on too. They crash in the middle, a blur of activity that will have the full attention of their audience. Jasper tries to get his arms around Emmett's bulk, to twist to the side and get a grip on his head but at ever turn he is pushed away. He's no match for the strength. In three seconds, he is pinned to the ground and Emmett is wearing a self satisfied smirk.

Before Emmett can gloat Jasper gets back to his feet and turns to walk back towards the wolves. "That'll happen to all of you if you go head on with what's coming. You have to go at it from the side, from behind, any way but the obvious. Use your head," he adds, tapping his index finger to his temple, "and you'll come out of this alive. Again." This time Jasper tells it flow, lets his mind work and fight against his bodies natural instincts and he has his him pinned in seconds.

From their emotions and the gleam in their eyes, Jasper knows he has their full attention now. They are impressed but also eager, they know how important it is for them to learn what he can teach. So he dives in, using Emmett as his example. It goes against the grain to be showing these things to the shifters, his natural enemy, but circumstances require it and so he does it. He knows circumstances can change though and in the back of his mind is an insistent voice reminding him of the threat of that morning. These moves he is teaching them, the techniques, the weaknesses, they could be used to kill his family. Maybe even to kill him if the wolves get lucky enough.

It's a few hours after the sun has started to rise when the wolves turn and leave. There's no way to know for sure, what with the lack of any sort of conversation, but he's almost positive they will come back that night. And he'll teach them things he learnt before their grandparents were even born.

"You think they learnt anything?" Emmett asks him as they approach the house, both slowing to a human walk.

Nodding Jasper agrees, "Definitely. They wanted to take as much from it as they could."

"Where do you think the rest were? Do you think they went looking?" The last part is whispered so only they will hear it and Jasper snaps his head round to face Emmett. He hadn't let himself think that. "Where else would they have gone?"

"They have lives," Jasper reminds him. Hope is dangerous. "Sleep, Eat. Families. They could have been doing anything."

"I think they went looking," Emmett nods and Jasper feels that he doesn't just think it, he's convinced of it.

Everyone – bar Edward who will be watching Bella sleep – is waiting when they get in. Jasper lets Emmett answer all the questions that are asked, drifting quietly into the background as is his way. Rosalie is very interested and Jasper can only imagine what a nightmare she would have been to deal with through the night. She loves any good fight and being made to sit this one out would have riled her.

"Will you go back tonight?" Esme asks and the question is so obviously directed at him that Jasper can't ignore it. He doesn't tend to ignore Esme anyway, not wanting to treat such a soul with any rudeness.

"At midnight," he agrees. "I still have a lot to tell them."

"And not much time," she nods. "We all need to hunt as well. Together."

A bonding exercise then.

"I'll be at the hospital until the late evening," Carlisle tells them, "and I think tomorrow will be too late."

Everyone turns to look at Alice then, waiting for her input. Her decree. "If we go as soon as Jasper and Emmett come back it won't be a problem. Edward will come as well, the wolves will guard Bella if Jasper asks."

And as if her word were law they all nod, his the only immobile head. Decision made.

Wanting to give them as much warning as possible Jasper approaches Carlisle and asks for the number they use to contact Jacob Black. "Are you sure now is the best time?"

"They have lives," is all Jasper replies, number in his head and feet heading to his room once again.

It had been a music room when they first arrived in Forks, Edward's piano and Rosalie's cello artfully placed in the wooden floored room. The best acoustics in the house, Edward had proclaimed when they planned it out. He had been sharing a room with Alice, a similar sized space that had held all the things they had amassed throughout their time together. Books, clothes, trinkets. They hadn't bought anything together since long before they arrived. The end had been coming, closing in on them for years. No pain, no big arguments, just simply two people growing too far apart. Vampires are not meant to change but Jasper has reason to refute that claim. He is not the same as he was ten years ago, subtle but meaningful changes making them not so compatible any more. Two days after Leah had ran Esme had started making this room for him. At the time he had thought she had decided to do so on her own but now, now he wonders if maybe Alice had a hand in it. Pushing things in her right direction.

No matter how it came about, Jasper appreciates it now. It's a plain space, a bed, a sofa lined against the wall holding his music system. His books. Nothing about it screams Jasper, it doesn't scream anything much at all but he likes that. It is subtle. His phone sits on the small nightstand beside his cream covered bed. It rings four times before it is answered.

"What now?" Jacob snarls through the line, openly hostile. This isn't the usual greeting Carlisle receives when he rings, more practiced indifference, but it is understandable.

"We need you to watch Bella," Jasper states, not asking and straight to the point. "All of us need to hunt before the fight."

There is a long pause and then Jacob comes back. "When?"

"Tomorrow. In the morning, from after we finish training." Here is a way to confirm their plans after all.

"Where will you be hunting?" Jacob asks, this time not missing a beat.

It's an unexpected question. "We'll drive south and then head into the national forest. They will come in almost a dead straight line from the city so we want to avoid mixing any scent trails."

"Bring her tonight," is the only reply he gets before the line goes dead.

Knowing that everyone had heard the strange conversation, Jasper leaves it to anyone else to inform Edward of the situation. He assumes Alice takes the duty as she disappears for a few hours, returning in the early afternoon with a steaming Edward, Bella and her weekend bag. His attention drifts, half focused on the book in his hands and half on the activity in the rest of the house. Only when Bella brings up where she will be during the fight does his mind snap to reality.

"You'll be here" Edward tells her in a soothing voice. "Esme is going to stay at the house with you."

"I could help," Bella argues and Jasper feels her desperate urge to do just that. She could as well. Her blood would be the perfect distraction.

"It's too dangerous," Alice adds and from the rustle of fabric Jasper assumes she has placed her hand on Bella. "We would all be too distracted, not focused on the fight but on protecting you. Edward especially."

Cruel. To add that on the end. Utter manipulation and it works a charm. Before Bella can give in there is movement from just below Jasper – Emmett and Rosalie's room – and then the whisper of vampire travel.

Rosalie, he can smell. "What about the wolves?" From the spike of outrage that hits him, Jasper can tell this is just the point Edward had not want raised. "Surely they are leaving some of their number to protect their precious reservation. Bella could stay there."

"No," Edward calls but it is a lost cause. Bella is determined, more so than he has ever felt her before.

_They won't want her there,_ he thinks, pushing it out. That is a certainty. The wolves have made their contempt for Bella clear in the past and while they still feel duty bound to protect her, that will not be enough in this case. They are all so quick to forget – himself included – that it is Edward and Bella that have brought this upon them. The shifters don't and having Bella on the reservation will go against everything they believe. Any help they are giving the Cullens is for the sole purpose of protecting their people. Bella is the bullseye.

Knowing the inevitability of the outcome and not wanting to listen to just how they spin this to hide the dirty truths, Jasper turns his attention back to his book.

Due to the addition of Bella, Edward insists on coming to the training session. Jasper had expected no less and so it is no surprise when he finds the pair, with Emmett at their side, waiting for him outside the house at 11:55. The human looks tired but she's excited and eager, all bundled up in her winter wear. The run much slower than yesterday, Bella on Edwards back. When they reach the clearly only two wolves are waiting, both in human form. The wolf from the house and another Jasper has never met.

"Paul and Quil," Edward murmurs, trying to be quiet but it is still loud enough for the wolves to hear. It angers them.

"Where are the rest?" Jasper asks, moving towards them. He isn't blind enough to miss the fact that he seems to constantly be separating himself from his family these days, small steps speaking loudly.

"Busy," the angry one answers, Paul Jasper guesses from Edwards words. "They don't need to be here to see."

"I'm not staying," the other one, Quil adds. "Just here to get Bella."

At that the couple fold in on themselves, seeming to forget everything around them as they say goodbye. It's dramatic but Jasper can feel that the emotions behind it are genuine. Watched by them all, Bella crosses the space between the two groups, tripping over air as she goes, her eyes trained on Edward. There is a moment of confusion from her when the wolf simple starts walking away from her and then they all watch as she flushes with embarrassment. She had expected to be carried. Snorting, Paul turns his whole body away from her.

They all wait silently until the pair are no longer visible. Edward can still hear the boys thoughts and is concentrating hard on them, no doubt he will cling to them until the very second they disappear. "Was that necessary?" Edward snarls, breaking the silence.

"What? Making her leave now? We have things to be doing," Paul retorts. "Or is it the fact we made her walk that pisses you off."

_Stop it, _Jasper thinks. This could get out of hand quickly and he has neither the time nor the patience for this argument.

"We have a lot of ground to cover," he states, gaining everyone's attention.

Nodding the wolf steps forward bringing Jasper closer to him than to his brothers. "Before that I've got a few things we need going over." He waits for Jasper's nod before he continues. "We want to know more about the weak points and how to exploit them. I want in on the fighting tonight as well. It's all fucking theory until you put one of us in play."

"Agreed." He had been hoping for as much. Jasper enjoys nothing more than a challenge.

"Next, we know Charlie is coming to the res tomorrow. That we have no problem with but where is the girl gonna be? _Not _on the res. No where fucking close."

"She'll be at our home," Edward states, strangely calm, "with Esme. You'll make sure Charlie stays until it is all over?"

"Already on it, leech. Lastly, and this is important so listen closely," he demands, eyes suddenly trained on Edward. "After you leave here, stay away from the line. Don't come close. We'll bring the girl to you."

"Why?"

The fact that it is Edward that asks the question is shocking. He should know.

"That isn't your concern. Do we have a deal? If not," he shrugs his massive shoulders, "it'll only take me two seconds to call Quil back here. You can find some other place for your girl, pretty boy."

"That's fine," Emmett cuts in, a hand on Edwards arm. "We'll stay away."

Satisfied, Paul smirks and pulls down his shorts. There is not a trace of embarrassment coming from him but there is more than enough hitting him from Edward. Always the prude. He thinks about their request on and off the whole time they train. An idea is starting to form in his mind, snip-its of everything he has heard over the past few days twirling in his mind. It isn't a nice conclusion he is coming to and Jasper pushes it away, hoping against his own mind that he is wrong.

They break later that morning and all of them are keen to leave, Edward and Paul more so than himself and Emmett. As soon as they are out with hearing distance Edward slows down. "He was blocking me," he tells them, frustrated. "Not completely but enough that I found it difficult to gain anything other than surface thoughts."

All of the family have learnt to do this. It's a survival technique, as much for them as for Edward, and each of them had learnt as quick as possible. It's strange that this wolf can do it though.

"Not just him, Quil as well." Jasper shares a look with Emmett and he can tell they are both thinking the same thing. Edward must have heard it from one or another of them during the training. "They couldn't hide that," Edward assures them and while his voice is strong and sure, Jasper can feel the doubt behind it. "Why would they?"

"Why wouldn't they is probably the better question. She's family, dude," Emmett reminds them, "and I don't mean to us."

"They won't find her in time."

For the first time in awhile, Jasper hopes Edward is completely right.

The rest of the family are waiting when they return and they spend no more time than it takes to change into hunting clothes before they are all off. Jasper goes in the Mercedes with Carlisle, Esme and Rosalie. The others follow behind in Edwards volvo. Both Emmett and Rosalie aren't happy about having to leave there cars at home but Carlisle had insisted. The Volve and Merc have the edge on scent control. There is a strange atmosphere as they hunt, tense but trying not to be. They all know what is coming and while none of them are first-timers there is still a level of uncertainty that surrounds any vampire fight. It makes them all a little more base, closer to their instincts and the parts of their nature they usual push against. The hunt is messing but satisfying and they return to the house in much higher spirits.

It's dark by the time they get back and Jasper watches the shadows cast by the trees play against the ground as Carlisle pulls the car to a stop. Edward has done the same ahead of them and everyone moves to get out of the cars at the same time. "We leave in an hour," Carlisle tells them, holding the front door open until they all enter.

An hour. Long enough. Not needing the distraction the blood drying against his skin and clothes will bring, Jasper decides on a shower. This is the first time he's been alone before a fight in a long time. Usually Alice would be at his side, her certainty easing his fears. They would shower and then curl together on whatever surface they could find, easing a different kind of urge all together. He can think of nothing more depressing than masturbating in the shower and so he washing quickly, dressing just as fast and then settling on the end of his bed, phone in hand.

"Jasper, it's been awhile. How are you?"

"Fine," Jasper smiles, not caring that Peter isn't here to see it. It's nice to hear his voice. "And you? Charlotte?"

"The same," Peter replies. Good then. "We've been following the trouble up your way."

Having expected no less Jasper hmmm's into the phone. "It'll be over after tonight."

"I thought as much. How are the numbers?"

"Twenty, twenty-five at most. We have help," he adds quickly, knowing as well as Peter that seven against twenty-five is a death sentence.

"You could have asked," Peter scolds and Jasper can here Charlotte move closer in the background. He can just imagine them, standing together in some ugly alley. He can hear the loud bass of a club in the background and he's unbelievably pleased when venom doesn't start pooling in his mouth at the memories it invokes. "We would have come."

Jasper can't help but laugh, sullen has never suited Peter. He knows they would have come which is exactly the reason he did not ask. Peter is the only one of the vampires Jasper made in his tortured youth that is still around. He makes it a point to not put that last point into doubt.

"You'll call after," a female voice sings at him and again Jasper smiles. Charlotte has the voice of a choir girl and the attitude of a sailor.

"Yes,ma'am." He ends the call there, not waiting for a response or giving a goodbye.

During his brief shower and phone call Bella had arrived. She had come alone in her truck, telling Edward and Esme that Quil had driven with her but left the truck at the turn off. With her here, Jasper is slightly surprised to see Edward framed in his bedroom doorway as he ends the call. "Carlisle can't get in touch with the wolves," he tells him and then disappears.

Jasper follows, moving to the sitting room where everyone has gathered. As he enters he raises an eyebrow at Carlisle and the phone sitting on the coffee table in front of him. "They're probably phased."

Looking at Bella for confirmation, she nods in return. "They were phased the whole day, or well, out in the woods. Only one of them was with me and Emily at a time. No one was there during the night, not in the house but someone was there always during the day. Usually Sam." Sam, the Beta.

"Did they tell you who was staying to guard the reservation?"

"No, they didn't tell me anything. Not even Emily," Bella adds, blushing.

"We should go then," Carlisle decides and suddenly the anguish in the room is suffocating.

Not waiting around to hear the goodbye the two splitting couples will share, Jasper moves to leave the house. Emmett, Rose and Alice follow closely behind. They wait two miles out from the house for Carlisle and Edward to join them silently, before all together following Alice. They had discussed the best possible place for the battle – furthest from town, secluded enough that campers were unlikely and direct enough that no stay newborns would become distracted and stray from their compatriots – and Alice had informed them of the best choice based off their decisions. Jasper has never been where they are going, Emmett having picked it, and a scouting mission before hand had been out of the question. Victoria could have no hint of the trap they were setting for her. He is pleasantly surprised when they get there. It is almost perfect for the fight. Maybe on the small side but size was low on their list of priorities.

"How long, Alice?" Carlisle asks as they all settle. They all stand together, Emmett and Rosalie clinging to one another while the rest of them stand alone.

The glazed vision look crosses her features and when her eyes open they instantly find Jasper. Both her and Edward are suddenly resigned. Tense. "Less than ten minutes."

"They'll come," Edward states, answering an unheard question from Carlisle. The wolves. "I can't hear them, no, but Alice can't see the battle."

"I can't smell them," Rosalie states after taking a moment to sniff the air. Neither can Jasper but that isn't surprising if Rose can't. Her nose is the best in the family.

"That's the point isn't it?" Emmett jokes, pushing his side into hers. The joke falls flat and Rose's brow furrows as much as their granite skin will allow.

"They will," Edward tells Rose. "We need to focus on our own fight."

He's right and they all know it. Rose and Emmett share a chaste kiss before separating and they all move to line up. The tree line is to there back and ahead is about a mile of open grass land. Trees border it on all sides but the densest forest is straight ahead. That's where they will come from.

After another minute or so they can all hear them approach. They are making no attempt at stealth and Jasper quickly counts twenty-two. Not as good as he had hoped but still, not as bad as it could have been. As they get even closer, the scent of human decay crawls towards them. Each of them recoil slightly apart from Carlisle. It's such a foreign smell to them, even to him now, and it serves to set all their nerves even further on edge. As the stench surrounds them and they begin to see flashes to travel in the distance – a red shirt here, blonde hair there – Edward lets out a blast of relief.

"They're here," he announces and just like Edward, the rest feel nothing but relief. It lasts only a second before Edward is suddenly oh so guilty. He even gulps.

"Edward?" Carlisle whispers, not taking his eyes of the approaching army in front of them. "Edward? What is it?"

Before he can answer, the tree line before them ripples and Jasper surges forward. He can feel the family follow behind him and that is the last thought he spares them. Focus. The first vampire he sees is male, young and angry and has locked his eyes on Jasper. Blasting out serenity and peace Jasper continues to advance as the boy slows, coming to a stand still just as Jasper reaches him. He manages to shake off his influence enough to put up a token fight, arms reaching up towards where Jasper is suddenly air born. He plants his feet directly into the boys chest, the momentum pushing him to the ground at the same time as Jasper puts his hands around his neck.

Before he can pull the head clean off another enemy latches on to his left arm, pulling and sending Jasper flying off to the side. He takes the head with him and sends it sailing to the ground as he springs back to his feet. Another male, older, with greying hair. Jasper knows better than to underestimate him though and again he attacks, sliding and biting into the right leg this time. Alice appears from nowhere, latching herself onto the back of the man. Her legs strain with the effort of holding on as Jasper rises and comes at the vampire from the front. With his hands distracted trying to remove Alice he is easy sport and without both his head and one arm – courtesy of Alice – in seconds.

Just as he places his hands on his next target the Pack surge through the trees, a burst of such excitement and terrifying rage that Jasper can't contain it. He pushes it all at the girl he is fighting and the shock of it has her clumsy. He bits into the wrist and _pulls pulls _until her hand pops off, his attention focused on just where her other hand is heading, when he smells it. A familiar scent amongst his family and all the decay. Crisp and fresh, winter snow mixed with that undercurrent of pine that all the Cullens share. The air around them suddenly seems to crackle, like tinder just waiting to burst into flame. They had found her after all.


	4. Chapter 4

Coming back here had never been something Leah considered. It's awkward. She's awkward and confused and she feels so young again, like time has rewound back to those very first confusing days. Her emotions fly, never settling long enough on a feeling for her to get any grounding. They can't tell, she thinks, and she's thankful for it. The bliss and utter peace at seeing Seth, who she'd thought was lost to her forever, is disgustingly short lived. Now she feels stupid, naive and unprepared. Afraid.

_What is she doing here?_

There isn't anyone to answer any of the questions she had told Embry she had, these wolves can no more speak to her than she can understand the growls and mewls that keep flowing from them. It's been awhile since she arrived, the sun no longer hidden behind the clouds above them but dipping towards the horizon. Seth has approached her a few more times, tail waging and clearly trying to relive their happy moment from before, but Leah only gives him a slight smile. It'd be cruel to encourage him. Her fear is only enough to occupy her brain for so long and eventually she follows the example of the wolves in front of her and relaxes. Or appears to, she doesn't think it's possible for her to really _relax._

Crossing her legs and tugging them tight to her body Leah lets her fingers play with the grass that litters the forest floor. It feels exactly the same as any other grass she's felt so she knows just the right amount of pressure to use as she winds and braids the strands together, making nothing but busy work for her hands and eyes. Her eyes aren't so busy that they don't still track each and every movement the lounging wolves make. When the biggest one, the Alpha she guesses, moves and walks over it takes a lot to contain her reaction. She wants to stand up, to get into a better position to defend herself. The urge doesn't lessen at all when he moves away from her rather than closer, into the woods where she feels that familiar ripple shake the air. Her eyes are still on her braided strand when bare human feet stop right in front of her legs.

Instead of looking up – she isn't giving anyone that advantage – Leah rolls to the side enough that she can spring a into a back flip without hitting into him. Perfect ten, she lands solidly on her feet and proceeds to study the man. He looks similar to Embry – same muscles pattern, roughly the same height, same shaved close almost black hair – but he is bigger. Something about him is just _big_ though she can't put her finger on what exactly. Ignoring the rest, she stuides his face. If anything is going to ring bells in her memory it will be his face. Bushy eyebrows. Light brown eyes. A flat nose and full lips. He doesn't look like he smiles much and not only because he wears a carefully blank expression now, Leah can almost she the beginnings of frown lines marring his forehead.

"Leah," he greets, not looking at all surprised by her acrobatics. She has no idea who he is. "Thanks for coming."

Leah gives a soft nod in response. She won't ask who he is or explain that she had to come, had to come and make sure Seth doesn't die like her.

"I take it you don't want the Cullens to know you're here?"

She knows from the legends that the protectors are of one mind but she hadn't put two and two together until then. They had heard everything she had said he Embry, hence why Jared had remained a wolf. "No," she agrees, biting her lip to stop the laugh that threatens to bubble out when she sees this big bad wolf take a step back at her new voice. "I'd rather not see them until we fight." And then she won't stick around long enough for conversation.

"Thought so. You need to go down to the logging road, we'll go with you 'til there, and someone will meet you with a truck. Sam. He'll take you, they won't be able to smell you if you're in the truck," he adds in explanation, "and then you can travel with us tomorrow night."

"I won't go to La Push," Leah asserts, voice strong and leaving no room for argument. No one needs to see her, least of all her parents. He looks ridiculously pleased that she's said that and Leah has an inkling that it had been another test. "I'll go to Jefferson's Cove," she announces and her sudden annoyance is evident in her voice.

"That's our side of the line," he tells her, like it should mean something, "so they don't go there. Sam can take you down the 101."

"I'm guessing by all this mentioning of _Sam _that you aren't him?" She snaps. Fuck it. He'd been hoping for a reaction anyway.

Even the sudden sad look on the overgrown boys face doesn't shake her annoyance. What has he got to be sad for? It isn't his non-life.

"Jake," he coughs. "I'm Jacob. You taught me how to throw a punch."

What a lovely story. Shame she doesn't remember any of it. "Well, you're welcome."

This Jacob smiles then and it lights up his whole face. His emotions seem to swirl just as quickly as hers. "That's more like it," he states, all approving. "I'll go shift and then we'll take you to the road, it's easy to miss."

Somehow Leah doubts that, it isn't worth the argument though. They lead her closer to the smell of salty air, only Jacob and Seth now. Jacob trots out ahead slightly while Seth runs on her right. They go slowly and, her annoyance having fizzled out, Leah lets herself enjoy it for just a second. These wolves are strangely easy to be with when the opposite should be true. Even sad looks she can take without much bother. Part of it might be that they aren't technically people, or they haven't been most of the time she has been with them. After so long alone conversation is hard.

Without them leading her it would have taken awhile to find the road, if you can even call it that. It's more a trail and one that hasn't been used in some time she can tell, grass having grown thick over the tyre tracks. The come out right in front of an old beat up square thing. She wouldn't go so far as to call it a car. It's a rust red colour and Leah almost laughs at how fitting that is. For a minute the shape of it stirs something in the back of her mind but nothing comes of it so she lets it go, focusing on the man waiting by the driver side door. He looks the same in the way the two other shifters she has seen human do, same muscles and hair and build, his face is different though. He is older than the other two, Leah can tell it from his eyes, and where Jacob had seemed to never smile, this one seems seconds from real tears. His eyes are black, not some variation of brown like the rest.

So this is Sam, the boy she had been in love with. Without having been told his name she wouldn't have put this face with it. Or these eyes. There is not one single spark of recognition. He's studying her just as intently as she had been him and she can't stop the frown that covers her face as she looks away. She'd hoped she would know him.

The Seth wolf growls out a sound and it startles Sam from his staring. "Leah," he greets her, looking like he is going to move towards her but stopping himself at the last minute. Instead his hand gripes the wing mirror of the car and he makes an effort to clear his fact, "I'm Sam."

"I know," Leah replies, still looking away. Her vampire eyes can still see him though and the way his eyes spark at that is awful. "Jacob told me," she adds, cruel this way to avoid the other. Before Leah can think of anything else to say wolf Seth walks over to her and nudges her gently in the back. Getting the idea she starts walking forward, "We should go."

Nodding once Sam opens the still driver side door and slips in as Leah walks forward, human pace. Seth and Jacob drift away behind her. She can't stop herself from stroking the metal of the handle before she pulls if open, anything for another second. The scent hits her as soon as she opens the door and ignoring it as best she can, she swings herself into the bucket seat. Human. Three different scents. Three different _people, _she reminds herself. People, not smells. One is much fresher than the other two, strawberries and something floral that she can't put her finger on. The other two smell similar, though one is definitely more feminine than the other. Over it all is the smell of Jacob – which actually seems ingrained in the fabric of the seats – and Sam, his obvious and fresh.

"First time I've been in a car," she states, regretting it instantly. Sam hadn't even had time to start the engine yet and so he is completely free to spin his head round and stare at her. Something lodges in his throat and it looks like he has to work hard to get it past his Adam's apple. Somehow it's funny, the way he bobs. She bites her lip and doesn't laugh.

It is though, the first time she's been in a car. Well, that she can remember.

"It's Jacob's," Sam murmurs, finally done swallowing and his hands on the key. "The car I mean." Leah nods as he turns the key and then all of a sudden she is shaking. Her hands reach out for something to gripe but she stops, catching them just before they rip right through the dashboard and snatching them back to her lap. Jesus, she can feel the movement of the engine in her bones.

Drawing into herself Leah ignores Sam and the scenery that is slowly starting to move past them, every bit of her brain assimilating this new experience. It's loud – she had expected nothing less – but she can hear every individual piece of the engine move and grind together and the springs of the suspension are doing nothing against the bumps of the trail. It's awful, holed up with the stale human smells clawing at her throat and the car assaulting her senses. The metal separating her from her roots is unwelcome too. She's been inside before, felt concrete and wood and lots of things separating her from the earth but somehow it's jarring this time. She doesn't even want to get started on the weirdness of not being responsible for her movement. Maybe being the driver would be different, though she doubts it.

Needing to distract herself, Sam gets her focus again. There has to be some link between this person in front of her and the Sam in her memories. None of her Sam memories are solid or what she thinks of as full. Bits and pieces are what make him up in her memory. His hands she remembers and her eyes travel to the huge brown fingers curved around the wheel. Nothing. The steady thump thump of a heartbeat beneath her ear and a warm hand on her back. Fingers in her hair. Lips against her neck – though that memory she usually cuts short, the unwelcome associations obvious. Nothing rings bells, not even the thump thump matches up to this person sitting beside her now. "I remember you," she speaks into the dark silence. "Or, maybe it isn't you. It doesn't feel like you." She keeps her eyes on his fingers and watches as they tighten at her words, the blood slowing beneath the skin.

"I remember _definitely _you," he growls. He sounds so certain and it makes her jealous. What she wouldn't give for a little bit of certainty.

"What was I like?"

"I...I don't even know how to answer that. You were _you" _he answers, the last you almost a sob. Its mean but Leah doesn't want to let this go.

"Try." It's a demand.

"Okay, okay." He pauses and Leah watches as the fingers uncurl, sticking up straight before returning to what she assumes is a more natural position. "We were going to go to college, had big plans. I'm older, so I was going to go first and you'd follow. Funny," he laughs, "you never did follow anyone. Not even me in the end. No body, not one person, told you what to do. More than half the res knew not to dare."

College. That had never even crossed her mind. "What was I going to study?"

"History," comes quick, "or math. You hadn't decided." Neither seems like her. "You wanted to come back and teach here. I was going to do business and maybe do something with it. You used to sing," he adds, eyes flicking to her face. "Your voice now..."

"It's different. Did I have friends?"

"Course," he answers, like it's obvious. "Everyone liked you, you liked everyone. Emi...your cousin was your best friend."

His heart races there and Leah has no idea why. Her cousin. Emi...something. "Who?"

"Emily."

There is something there. Sam lights up when he says her name, his eyes sparking and lips curling in a slight smile that Leah guesses he isn't even aware of. His heart and his blood tell a different story though, he anxious. And he had tried to keep from saying her name. For some reason Leah's eyes flick to the cool metal band lying against warm brown skin. "She's your wife?" He doesn't answer her and that's confirmation enough.

She's not quite sure what to say. Obviously this is something that Sam thinks she should be upset about, it probably is something she _would _have been upset about. Things are different though. She isn't a girl, she isn't even _alive, _so it's hard to feel like she is missing out on anything. Her emotions are so far withdrawn from this person that she only feels a vague bitter sweet happiness, the same kind she'd felt when she saw a couple kissing in the park the last time she visited a town. How do you explain that to someone who remembers loving you? How do you tell them that really, you couldn't care any less.

"I don't remember her," she declares for a lack of anything better to say. "Did I meet you as a wolf?" The question starts his heart racing again. Fucking hell, she is not stable enough to deal with this. Huffing she turns to face out the window, hopefully making it clear just how ridiculous she thinks this Sam is. "Let's just not talk. Jesus, I hope all conversations aren't freaking mine fields."

He's embarrassed but obviously agreeable and they travel the rest of the way in silence. With nothing to keep her attention away from it, Leah focuses on the car and tries to adjust to this new mode of transport.

When they finally stop it's on another rarely used trail, trees blocking it in completely. Before getting out she turns to her chauffeur, "You don't come. Really, don't."

Again he listens and Leah is out of the car and off into the trees without giving him a chance to change his mind. She needs to be alone. This is all too much after so long by herself. These people, as easy and comfortable as it is, it's still hard when she is clearly not what they remember. How could she be. What they remember, who they remember is dead. Has been for nearly two years. Her temper flairs and Leah stops dead, breathing deep and reminding herself that it's all temporary. A fleeting moment in her undead life. It's already the middle of the night, by this time tomorrow it could all be over. God, she hopes it's all over.

Her deep breathing had calmed her but also alerted her to her new wolf escourt, Jared she was sure, loitering to the north. Ignoring him and hoping he had more sense than to come any closer, Leah looks around. Nothing here suits her needs and so she moves closer to the wolf, slowly until she finds what she needs. It's the work of seconds to climb her new favourite tree and in no time she's settled in for the night, her back against the trunk and her ass on a branch that sits just above most of the foliage. She spends her night watching the stars track across the sky, studiously ignoring the coming and goings of her wolfie friends below.

Seth comes when the sun is high in the sky and the water is as close as it gets, a wolf she's not smelt before and Embry with him. Embry and the unknown – Quil or Paul, she has met the rest – drift below her, almost looking confused, but Seth heads straight for her tree and curls into a ball at the bottom. The others have settled not to far from him by the time his wolf snores fill the air. The day passes quickly and quietly, her brain occupied with memorising cloud patterns and the rhythm of her brother. The other wolves sleep on and off, one at and time, and sometimes look like they want her to do something, _anything,_ but it's easily ignored.

When Seth and the unknown wolf wake at the same time, both shaking out fur and moving to stand off to the left, Leah guesses the others are on their way. Soon she can hear three of them approaching, coming at them fast before stopping entirely. At the same time the three beneath her start moving, disappearing into the tears. The ripple in the air almost makes her shiver it is so intense, what with six wolfs changing out all at once. Seth bounds into view just a minute later.

"Leah!" he calls with a happy, goofy smile standing right below her tree.

"Hi, Seth." The smile that she doesn't bother to keep off her face is obvious in her voice. This person she knows. He looks just like the kid in her memory only...stretched. Everything about him looks slightly too big, the only one of the wolves she has seen that looks different from the rest.

"I can't believe you're alive," he breathes.

Before she has to choke on her own denial, the rustle of trees announces the arrival of the rest. "Leave her alone, Seth," Jacob calls and though the words aren't friendly, Seth shrugs them off and backs off after shooting her a smile.

They arrange themselves in a semi-circle around her tree, all standing with their arms across their bare chests. Sam is the one missing. They are clearly human for her benefit but she doesn't jump down, preferring to wait up here and listen to whatever it is they have planned.

"You don't smell nearly as bad as the rest of them, ya' know. I'd thought these fuckers were just being nice." It's the other wolf that she doesn't know the name of that says it.

"Paul!" Jacob snaps, "shut the fuck up. Listen, Leah, we maybe should have asked this before but do you actually know how to fight?"

"Or are you just as useless as your brother," Embry quips, smirking and pushing in to Seth who stands next to him.

"Oi."

Deciding there isn't much point in putting if off any longer Leah jumps, landing square in front of this Paul and delighting in the little jump back he makes. "You don't smell to bad yourself and yes," she turns to Jacob, "I can hold my own in a fight."

"Against a newborn?"

"A what?"

"A baby vampire," Paul drawls, retaking that step forward. "Someone just like you really."

"I doubt that."

"Look at her, man. She's not much bigger than the blonde Cullen bitch, how much damage is she gonna be able to do. She's faster than the other leeches, i'll give her that but not faster than us."

"Fuck you, asshole," Leah snarls, rage igniting once again. Who does this little boy playing a man think he is? "I didn't have to come and bail your ass out of this mess you got involved in. And isn't that fucking ironic, a vampire coming to help you with the mess you get from dealing with _vampires?"_

"Let's all just calm down. Paul, shut it. Leah, we're grateful you came to help. I just wanted to make sure you were prepared for what we're about to be getting into," Jacob explains.

"I'd be more prepared if someone would take the time to actually explain who we're going to be killing. You know, answer all those questions I told you I had." Embry doesn't even have the decency to squirm.

"We don't have time for an explanation," and isn't that just convenient, "but sure, cliff notes version. A vampire named Victoria has made this army of hulked out newborn blood suckers to come and kill the Cullens. That brings them uncomfortably close to La Push and when you see the rampage they've gone on in Seattle, you get this. Us, here working with the Cullens."

There are so many plot holes in that sentence even Leah's vampire brain can't list them all. But, hey whatever. She's here to help and then hit the road. "How many?"

"Twenty-five at most. More like twenty."

Suddenly, Leah doesn't feel quite so confident in her ability to help or even survive. That's a lot of vampires. The reality that she's about to come up close and personal with nearly thirty vampires after spending the last two years avoiding -or killing – everyone she has come in to contact with settles in her mind as she listens to the wolves confirm their plan. Stay back, wait 'til the action has started and then dive in. If one breaks off, chase it down. Jacob gives her a nod and Seth gives her another one of those easy looking smiles and then suddenly they are all drifting away and back in wolf skin.

She runs ever so slightly behind them, hoping that their combined musk with mask her scent a little. What had taken so long in the car is a journey of minutes as she runs nearly flat out with the shifters. When they get close enough that she can smell the Cullen odour drifting up to her on the wind, Leah takes to the trees. The wolves look up, some startled and some looking a little impressed at her climb. The forest is so dense here that she can skip from tree to tree, little to no effort required and Leah makes sure she's careful, not getting ahead of the paws pounding below her. The sounds, smells and sights offered by the battle hit her all at once. It is a testament to her ability to digest such epic amounts of information that her flying steps don't falter. It's awful, like what Leah imagines the end of the world would be, the smell of death mixing with that base scent of nature and wolf. Her eyes want nothing more than to look away, to forget the carnage and wriggling limbs that she is racing towards. There are twenty-nine vampires in the clearing – or at least the scent of twenty-nine. Some no longer whole – and Leah tracks them all, separating them out in her mind. All the Cullens are here – _he _ is here – bar the woman with the caramel hair and kind voice. Each of them are fighting at least one opponent and sadly, none of them look to be losing.

She is still a beat behind the wolves and so they surge from the trees and out into the riving mass of death before Leah launches herself from the peak of the last tree. As she flies her fingers stretch to the point that Leah knows it would be unbearable were she human and the pulsing roots come alive. There are so many of them even she cannot count their number in the seconds it takes for her to land on her unsuspecting target, thrusting up towards her like they've been doing nothing but waiting for her call.

When her feet hit it isn't solid ground that she connects with but solid vampire. It's is back she lands on and Leah is light enough that the impact doesn't knock this larger vampire to the ground, he keeps on running, heading straight to where Seth has is. Her brother has his jaws wrapped around the delicate wrist of a girl, no older than sixteen. He's wearing a lumber jack shirt, red, green and faded and Leah doesn't even bother pushing it aside or looking for a clear shot at skin. The threads separate like warm butter sliding off a knife and her teeth tear into skin without much more effort. The reaction is instant, the back beneath her shakes with the roar echoing through it and big hands reach over and past muddy brown hair, trying to reach and grab at where her hands cling. Even as he reaches, the vampire swerves sharply, zig zaging through the air in an effort to shake her off. This vampire is much stronger than her but thankfully, that doesn't much matter now. She has done what she needs to. Pushing down Leah launches of the dirty shirt, fingers twitching as she does and like a sunset falling over her, the shirt sets to burning. Her legs are already taking her towards the ground where Seth and the girl wrestle when her sparks meet the venom leaking from her bite and the man explodes.

With their supernatural senses everyone in the clearing had to have noticed the flame that sparked against the lumber jack shirt but it isn't until the venom sparks that they show their shock, everyone turning their heads to the burning mass on the ground. Everyone one of the vampires look horrified. The wolfs just look shocked. While they all process, Leah keeps going. Seth has managed to detach the right hand of the girl and Leah can see holes in both her jeans and skin as she runs towards them. Just as the girl catches hold of Seth's right hind leg, twisting it in an ugly way, Leah pushes out her roots and the stained denim catches light. It panics the girl enough that she releases Seth's leg, backing away like she can step away from her own legs. There is no venom though so Leah launches herself at the girl, Seth on her heels. Something is taking her over, something she hadn't felt the other two times she has fought with her kind. It had been over so quickly then and now, this continued conflict is sparking some base excitement in her. Some primal glee. She doesn't just bite, she _tears, _not stopping until the arm that still had a hand is no longer attached to the girls body. Seth relieves her of the other at the same time. There is a smile on her face as she answers more of the roots, giving them a direction, pulling Seth away by the tail as she does so.

His grin seems just as feral as they share a look before launching after the nearest target, Leah setting the limbs and bodies that litter the floor alight as they go.

* * *

Jasper considers it a victory that he portrays no shock when the first killing flames catch in the fighting field but when the vampire she had been mounted to seems to start burning from the inside out, well that's a different matter all together. He can feel the sudden terror that they all feel – and the quick shock and happy lightness from the wolves – and it echoes in his core. She's a killer, they all feel it. He is too though and so he recovers quicker than the rest, moving on to the next newborn before it has even had time to process just what is waiting for it.

Even as he fights, his eyes track her. She's wearing exactly the same clothes as the last time he had seen her, the clothes Rosalie had picking out ad bought and that Esme had dressed her in. Jasper had gone with Rose to Port Angeles to shop, desperate to escape the agony and tortured feelings that had been perculating behind their glass walls. The jeans had been easy but Rose had debated – out loud but never the less to herself – on more than a few options before she settled on the navy shirt. Jasper had agreed with her choice, hiping t speed things along as his throat burned and his mind contemplated just how the sales girl that was projecting pure lust at him would taste. He'd liked the brass buttons.

The colour is different now, hidden under too any layers of grime for it to ever be clean again but they are unmistakably the same clothes. Her hair is different, not loose waves of silky black velvet flooding down her back but a tight braid that snakes its way inside the creased colour of her shirt. Clever girl. She's smiling as well, something she hadn't done in the few minutes he had seen her. It's seamless, the way she works with the wolf that is shadowing her. It's the youngest of the pack and while to being with it had seemed Leah was following him, the table have turned. There's something beautiful about it, in a primal way. The solider in him sees her weaknesses quickly and Jasper is so glad she has a power, her newborn strength seeming to completely have left her. There's no technique, no skill to the way she launches herself at her targets. And still, he can see not one bite on her skin.

"She's running!"

The panicked shout draws all the attention that Jasper isn't using to fight away from Leah and to Edward. It was him that had shouted and all the family look up at his call. He's looking off towards the right side of the clearing and they can all see Victoria framed there amongst the trees. It's her back they can see and her glowing flame of hair.

Throwing off his opponent Edward takes off after her, Jasper following close at his heels. He's running towards them but it still takes Jasper a second to process that Leah and the wolf with her have broken off as well, heading towards the trees. They are the closest to her and Jasper has first hand knowledge of just how fast Leah can go. Just as Edward is about to hit the trees a newborn jumps him, knocking him back in to the fray. He can more than handle himself Jasper knows, so he doesn't stop, just keeps running chasing the figures disappearing into the trees. The sound of paws pounding hard behind him fills his ears and Jasper realises just where this bitch is heading. Straight for the reservation. Straight for the fucking water. Pumping his arms faster, Jasper pushes himself to the limit and it still isn't enough. The wolves behind are gaining on him and the figures in front of him are quickly disappearing. There is no chance he'll catch them but still Jasper runs, jumping up and into the trees when the wolves get close enough. They'd been heading straight for him and he isn't entirely sure they wouldn't simply bowl him over rather than waste the time diverting to avoid him would cost them.

The added height lets him see Leah, her wolf and even Victoria in the distance. They won't catch her either. "Call the wolf on the reservation," Jasper shouts, hoping the wolves will listen. That's the only chance they have.

They skirt south around Forks, missing the house completely but bringing the salty tang of sea air quicker. As he smells it Jasper jumps back to the ground, a new urgency fueling him. If Leah follows Victoria into the water she will die, there isn't a doubt about that. By the time he skids to a halt on the golden sand, it's all over. The wolf that had been following Leah has her pinned to the ground, the other two pace the length of the beach feeling utter frustration.

"Keep her there," he orders, nodding at the Alpha so he knows Jasper will holld him responsible if she isn't here when he returns, and then he wades into the water.

It's deep enough after a few seconds that he is fully submerged. Being underwater is something Jasper hates with a fucking passion. It's like being blinded and having both his eyes and ears plugged all in an instant. Everything is muted and scents are virtually indecipherable. All he can do is move slowly, a small an obstacle as possible, all his senses on the highest alert the water will allow. Any ripple in the current can be felt and he has to wait – and hope – that Victoria is still close enough to make one. It is almost impossible to track another vampire underwater if they know what they are doing, especially if one has a talent like this bitch. He goes out for miles, completely a full circle and nothing. He'd expected nothing less.

* * *

It's only her complete surprise that lets Seth pin her. That, and her inability to set a fire on his ass that keeps her pinned. Just like everyone else Leah had heard the boy monsters call echo out across the field. Her and Seth were the closest, so it only made sense they give chase. At least now Leah knows that water stops her flames. She had assumed as much but still, disappointment had swamped her as the redhead sunk below the waves and her dancing fire dissolved into nothingness. Still, the bitch is down one ugly jacket.

Before she could dive into the water and carry on the chase, the whole not breathing thing being a definite asset here, Seth had pounced and pinned her to the ground. For a split second Leah had frozen, terrified that he was going to finally finish what the vampire had started. He doesn't though, just staring at her with sad, confused looking eyes. Hers probably mirror it in gold. Just as she's about to start struggling against his handless hold one of the Cullens slams on to the beach, the blond one that had made her feel things way back when. Jasper.

"Keep her there,"he snarls at Jacob, who to her fucking surprise does nothing but nod is too big wolf head.

Seth's back legs suddenly coil tighter and his whole wolf body weight is pushing down on her. Her much smaller frame is completely covered by the searing heat of him and Leah recoils from the puffing breathes hitting her face. "What the fucking," she screams, fingers digging into the sand. "Let me up, Seth, right the fuck now!"

He only whines in answer. The air gives that now familiar ripple and Leah hears – but can't see due to the shit ton of animal hair covering every inch of her line of sight – human feet padding towards her.

"Move abit, Seth," Jacob commands in a gentle voice and then there's his face, just above her. He looks sorry and those frown lines are so clear Leah can almost believe her vampire eyes were wrong earlier. "I'm so sorry," he tell her and even though it's him that's doing this, Leah believes it.

Something most show on her face as he suddenly asks if she will stay if they let her up and at her nod yes, he shoves Seth lightly to the side and she is set free. "You'll explain?" Leah asks as she sits up, brushing the sad off.

"If they don't," Jacob agrees and Leah does not need to ask just who _they _are. "I promise."

All the excitement and giddiness she had felt fighting have long since disappeared, leaving behind them a cold, solid weight in the pit of her stomach. "It's bad?"

"I really am sorry," is all Jacob will say in response and then he's back to that steally eyed wolf that had so frightened her at first.

Seth and Paul – who Leah had paid little to no attention to untl then – turn and head off in the direction of La Push without even shooting her a look, while Jacob locks eyes with her and shakes his head in a sort of 'stay' way before dissolving back into the trees. He is going back to where they had fought she guesses, though any actual fighting will be long over.

This is all spiraling out of control. She'd known something wasn't right when the only explanation she had been given for high tailing it over a thousand miles of some vague whisper of a threat was a measly two sentences. But now it feel all real and like she is sinking into this mess faster than she can run from it. The animal that rules her is telling her danger, screaming it in fact.

As soon as she sees the water start to ripple towards her, Leah gets to her feet. Nothing will let her be caught sitting on the sand, relaxed, by a Cullen. She makes an effort to school her emotions too, though she has not even the slightest idea of how to actually do that. He looks frustrated and...wet as he emerges from the water empty handed. From everyone's reaction Leah had suspected he wouldn't come out with the vampires blood red hair in his hands but still, it's a disappointment. Annoyingly, he also seems incredibly relieved to find her standing there.

Leah waits silently as he stalks towards her and comes to a stop just inches in front of her, clothes and hair dripping into the golden sand. "That is one impressive gift you've got there," he drawls, one side of his mouth rising without the other following. It's a practised move, Leah guesses, meant to set her at ease.

"I haven't forgotten your _gift," _she snarls back and he has the audacity to laugh.

"You're certainly prickly," he breathes out on a chuckle. "Though, I can't argue that you've got cause. How'd the wolf get you to stay?"

No one made her stay, Leah thinks, she is old enough to recognise the danger staring her straight in the face. Even if she doesn't understand it. Yet. "He asked me nicely."

"Well if I ask nicely will you come back with me? To the house?"

"You'll tell me what's going on? What's really going on?"

He nods, all traces of humour leaving him in an instant. "I give you my word."

The word of a vampire doesn't mean shit to her, the word of a Cullen even less. It's the last thing she wants to do but she is a big girl. Plus, she has a guarantor in the form of Jacob. She will hold him to his promise, if not this vampire to his word.


End file.
